From Lord of the Flies to caffeine boosts, we take a look at the reaction from
the US political circuit following the first presidential debate in Denver,
Colorado, on Wednesday night.

On the east coast Andrew Rosenthal for The New York Times says Mitt Romney "looked and sounded presidential" and "President Obama failed to step in and puncture that image" despite several whopping factual errors from the Republican.

The first of three presidential debates was notable for what wasn't said in the 90-minute joust, he says, highlighting Obama's failure to challenge Romney on his 47 per cent remarks, tax returns and tenure at Bain Capital.

"When the president discussed his opponent’s tax plan, he sounded lost and detached. He should have put a direct and simple question to Mr. Romney: 'Please name the deductions and exemptions you plan to eliminate in order to cut taxes without increasing the deficit. Just four or five would be nice.'," he wrote.

Despite this Rosenthal was not surprised by the president's lack of pizzazz on Wednesday, saying: "Mr Obama has made his distaste for political jousting disappointingly clear over the last four years."

Alexandra Petricalled Romney's performance his "Lord of the Flies" moment, saying that not only did he win but he "set the whole island on fire and chased [Obama] down with a spear".

"He trampled poor Jim Lehrer underfoot, rolling a boulder onto his head, even though Lehrer clearly had the conch. Poor Lehrer. Whether letting go of the leash was a calculated, intelligent choice on his part, or simply the only option for a man walking two recalcitrant cats, he definitely let go of the leash," she wrote.

Comparatively Obama acted as though his wife Michelle was about to leap up from behind the television and announce the debate had all been an elaborate anniversary prank, she added.

" 'Wasn’t that awkward!” he would say afterward. 'I thought I was actually going to have to debate that absurd person.' ," she adds.

Washington Post colleague Greg Sargent concludes: "Overall, Romney had the far better night. At a minimum, his performance will get pundits to stop blowing funeral dirges and will get them to start saying it’s a race again. Romney needed that badly, and he accomplished that and then some."

POLITICO

Roger Simon for Politicogives Barack Obama a crucial piece of advice in his take on the showdown: "Caffeine," he says, suggesting that the incumbent looked like someone who had accidentally been slipped an Ambien.

"It’s not that Romney’s performance was perfect or polished – – it wasn’t – – it’s just that Obama’s was so mediocre," he wrote.

While others claimed Obama may have been overconfident, Simon dismissed this saying the president is too intelligent to make that mistake. Instead he concludes that Obama was simply "overtired or overdistracted or over-something. But he certainly wasn't over-energetic". And in doing so he let a "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed" Romney walk all over him, he said.

"There were no game-changing gaffes and the debate was a substantive break from months of caustic negative campaigning on both sides, including lengthy discussions over deficit reduction and entitlement reform that seemed to yield hints of common ground — and also seemed to elevate both men," he adds.

Thrush wasn't a fan of Romney's "cringeworthy" use of Sesame Street's Big Bird, but overall he gave the "smiling and relaxed former governor" an unexpected thumbs up.

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Over on the west coast, Don McManus for the Los Angeles Timescompares Barack Obama's surprisingly lacklustre performance to previous incumbents, saying he had proved to be no exception to the rule.

" Gerald Ford stumbled against Jimmy Carter in 1976, Carter was pummeled by Ronald Reagan in 1980, Reagan fumbled in his first try in 1984, and so on," he wrote.

McManus adds that the president's apparent disinterest during the debate showed he had possibly underestimated his Republican challenger or had simple "gotten unused to being challenged directly". McManus also suggests another reason could have been a lack of preparation as he focused his time on crises in the Middle East.

However, he concludes that the explanation on why the president gave such a poor performance will be of little relevance as now the media is focused on a new narrative: "now Obama looks as if he’s lost a step and Romney’s showing new life."